Scorecard

Fleet v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 04 Jul 2009 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 77 runs

Match report Thatcham moved 5 points clear at the top of the Thames Valley League Division 1 on Saturday with a maximum 25 point haul at Fleet.

Winning the toss, skipper Duncan Johnson gambled and elected to bat first, a change in the usual Thatcham tactics of chasing a score down, and Ali Naqvi and James Ettridge once again got the innings of to a great start with a partnership of 80 before Naqvi edged the steady Chalkley to keeper Parker for 45. An all too brief cameo from Danny Stone of 21 followed, adding another 47 with Ettridge in good time. Ettridge was in fine form though, constantly finding the middle of the bat, with one towering six entering the Fleet clubhouse through the door leaving a nice red mark above the fire exit ! He moved to a half century, but the visitors then lost 2 quick wickets as both Steve Wyatt and Duncan Johnson went cheaply in the search for runs and it was Matt Denness who then came in and steadied the innings whilst Ettridge went on the assault. It looked a certain century for the tall left hander, but a bowling change from Fleet bought an abrupt end to the openers innings as he dragged a wide one onto his stumps from Talbot’s second ball for a fine 83. The lower order was marshalled by Denness as Thatcham went on the search for quick runs and a declaration, but wickets fell regularly along with the runs added and skipper Johnson declared after 48 overs with Thatcham on 238-9, Denness unbeaten on 41 at the close of the innings.

Fleet now had 52 overs to chase the target down as Thatcham’s Ali Naqvi and Dan Stephenson took the new ball. Early breakthroughs were vital and Naqvi provided it, Parker caught by Nick Bishop for 2. Morgan and opener Russell Black added a further 28 runs before Morgan edged Naqvi to Dan Stone for 10. Johnson had replaced Stephenson and his left arm spin was causing immediate problems, Ferguson edging to Chris Bird at slip for 0 and when Gurney was run out courtesy of a smart piece of work by Bishop and Johnson for 8, Fleet were 91-4 and in some trouble. Black though had other ideas and went on the offensive, smashing the ball to all parts of the compact ground and he reached a hard hit century and threatened to take the game away from Thatcham before Johnson had the last word, getting one to turn and take the edge and Chris Bird did the rest at slip as Black departed for 106. It was a great knock and the visitors were more than happy to see the back of Black as it now gave Thatcham the chance for victory. Naqvi was bought back into the attack and nailed Fleet skipper Tim Downes lbw for 3. Johnson then took another 2 wickets, Thornton smartly stumped by Dan Stone from a quicker arm ball for 7 and then Talbot edged another arm ball to Naqvi at slip for 6 and Fleet were in disarray. It was only a matter of time before Thatcham wrapped the innings up and it was fitting that it was Naqvi that did just that, comprehensively bowling Curd for 0 and then Singleton edged to Stone for 4 to give Thatcham victory and 25 points, Fleet dismissed for 161 with the last 6 wickets falling for just 17 runs.

Naqvi was the pick of the bowlers with his second 5 wicket haul in successive weeks with 5-44 from 15 overs and Duncan Johnson offered fine support with 4-47 from his 13 overs as the pair combined superbly to bowl out Fleet.
It was a great win from the Thatcham side, proving that they do have the weapons in the side to bowl a team out and not just rely on chasing down totals and it gives them a small cushion ahead of Amersham and Harefield at the end of the first round of fixtures.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
238		        
Ali Naqvi Caught  45 1
James Ettridge Bowled  83
Dan Stone Stumped  21 2 1
Steve Wyatt Caught  14
Duncan Johnson Caught  1
Matthew Denness Not Out  41
Danny Williams Caught  8
Martin Keep Caught  10
Nick Bishop Caught  0 1
Chris Bird Lbw  2 2
Daniel Stephenson Not Out  1

Fleet Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Fleet Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
161 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ali Naqvi15.144458.802.90
Daniel Stephenson6.013600.006.00
Duncan Johnson13.0247411.753.62
Chris Bird4.002700.006.75

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin?